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Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives

So here is my wine review for the week of September 8th...

GRIDLEY FAMILY CELLARS CABERNET FRANC 2005

Description: Cabernet Franc is one of the two parent grapes of Cabernet sauvignon, but it doesn’t act, taste or feel like an overbearing paternal wine. Depending on vineyard practices, the flavor profile of Cabernet Franc may be both fruitier and sometimes more herbal or vegetative than Cabernet Sauvignon, although lighter in both color and tannins. Typically somewhat spicy in aroma and often reminiscent of plums and especially violets, I find Cab Franc to be what spicy Zinfandel wines (which are lame) are supposed to be; a slightly more fruity, dramatically more spicy, not as tannic cabernet. Done correctly, Cab Franc is a wonderful red wine. Done poorly, it is tight, almost dry and carries a bite that most palettes can’t handle.

The Gridley Family Cellars is a small Napa winery producing very few varietals, but widely heralded as a new top end cab franc producer.

How and when I drank it: Tuesday afternoon August 26th at The Martini House in Napa, CA.

How to get it: Gridley sells their wines on their website, and it is available at a very few wine specialty sites and stores.

How Much: At Martini House, it costs $26 per glass. The bottle is $50 from the winery.

My Thoughts: The Gridley family claims that the 2005 Franc is darker, deeper and richer than their heralded 2004, which I have not tasted. I found the 2005 to be very good, but tight and young. I am hopefully that age will soften the wine, lest it be doomed to the graveyard of Cab Francs which never open up and remain overly wound, never reaching their true potential. In this 2005, you can sense, buried the deep, dark fruit flavors and a subtle smoky finish competing with toffee and vanilla flavors (which are losing).

Overall Score: I had two glasses, poured from different bottles and found my tasting notes to be consistent. The wine is not great enough for me to encourage you to cellar a case, but it also is far from being not worth the reasonable price tag based on its potential. If you can, I recommend trying it…now…and 3 years from now. For this time, it’s an average wine. 3 vines.

GRIDLEY FAMILY CELLARS CABERNET FRANC 2005 =